The Covenant- short stories about those who would see humanity fall
by techticianLars
Summary: My first of many fanfictions hopefully, hope you enjoy.


"What would you have your Arbiter do?"

The Story of the Arbiters

-Thel 'Vadamee

We all know the stories of the others; The Grunt Rebellion, The Taming of The Hunters, etc. But the Arbiters' legacy stretches so far beyond that... These are the Unknown stories delving deep into the history of the Covenant's greatest warriors... The Arbiters.

The Arbiters were our greatest assets and also our greatest failure. The Arbiters were the greatest of all the covenant and had we not made it the badge of shame that it was...maybe we could have won this war.

It all started when we encountered the Sangheili on their homeworld so many cycles ago. We waged war on them to gain access to their treasure trove of Forerunner artifacts. They claimed it heresy to tamper with or destroy the ruins. They fought as ferociously as our human opponents fight now.

And the greatest of all their warriors were the Arbiters. They were the generals of their armies, their guiding light. When an Arbiter was near, our forces knew they were doomed, as the Sangheili fought with renewed fury when in the presence of one of their leaders.

So we withdrew and bombarded them from afar, forcing them to use the artifacts or face annihilation. And still the Arbiters lead the charge. They were unrelenting, so it was obvious when we formed our great Covenant that the Arbiters would be our acolytes. And thus they were known as the Will of the Prophets.

Us San Shyuum, in our "infinite" wisdom, did not realize how little we actually knew. The Sangheili held the position of Arbiter with honor, while we made it a curse. The first Arbiter we appointed was named Draxz 'Zammzee, during our encounter with the Jilhranhe. Hmmph the human name is right for those monsters, the Brutes.

We sent Draxz as our acolyte and he showed the enemy no mercy, we actually had to stop him from annihilating the survivors. We should have let him, I see that now. But this was the first of many Arbiters to live and die for the Covenant.

For years, when the Covenant needed a leader, the Prophets anointed an Arbiter, the greatest warrior the Sangheili had to offer. We used them to put down rebellion and bend others to our will. They were the most loyal soldiers we had.

Then one day, all that changed.

A young Sangheili named

Fal 'Chavamee, was born and from the beginning everyone could tell he was different. He fought with the highest level of honor and was a born leader. We made him an Arbiter and commander of our armies. He was our sword, but he began to question our beliefs, and soon committed the greatest heresy known at the time.

He proclaimed the Great Journey was a lie...and so the Prophets of that time say fit to remove him from his position by removing him from the world of the living.

They dispatched another great warrior, a ruthless Sangheili named Harka 'Chavamee, to remove him after Fal destroyed a strike team and an entire army sent to defeat him.

So Harka plotted to provoke him into a duel, he slayed hus family and friends. In a blood rage Fal met Harka on the field of battle and a mighty blow was struck. Fal fell but not before striking a fatal wound on Harka. Both warriors perished, with Fal unknowingly cursing his title for all the years to come.

The mark of Arbiter had been labeled a lowly title, one meant for heretics who yearn for death. There were many who lived and died for our way. Those we remember as heroes and also failures.

There was another Arbiter known as Ripa 'Moramee who lead our troops during the battle for the Forerunner fleet in the shield world. He was a merciless warrior, felling hundreds of human welps singlehandedly. If only we had more warriors such as him. He met his untimely end along with much of our forces there when we lost the fleet, felled by a lowly human with his own blade.

That brings us to our current Arbiter, the heretic known as Thel 'Vadam. We should have executed him when we had the chance. He was the greatest leader this Covenant has ever seen.

With the destruction of the fist Halo, we branded the fleetmaster Thel with the mark of shame and sentenced him to execution. The High Prophets had other plans, however.

They bestowed Thel with the rank of Arbiter and sent him to silence a heretic who claimed the Great Journey was a lie. And so the Arbiter met with the Oracle and was tainted by its words.

Soon after, a second Halo was discovered and the Prophet of Regret was executed by the unholy Demon the humans called the Master Chief. Thus, the Sangheili's ability to protect the Covenant was called into question. We had their councilmen slaughtered and called for their genocide.

What fools we were.

For the first time since the Covenant was formed, the Sangheili waged war on us. With the same ferociousness as when we first encountered them, the Sangheili allied with our sworn enemies, the humans, and sought the Covenant's destruction.

And spearheading them, our very own Arbiter, Thel 'Vadam. With the discovery of the Ark, we sought to light the 7 Holy Rings and commence the Great Journey. Thel lead his troops to prevent what we didn't know would be the end of us all. With the Flood unleashed, we were assaulted from two fronts. It was the end of the Covenant as we knew it.

And to think if we had made the Arbiter a rank of honor again we might have won this war. As I end this chronicle of the history of the Arbiters, I wish to say that we were fools and may the Arbiter live on in legend.


End file.
